Bacon Heart Bites
With a decadently flaky cream cheese pastry and a thick layer of bacon, these heart shaped morsels are absolutely divine. Make your bacon heart bites for valentines day, for a charcuterie board or for a delicious snack option.
Why you will love this recipe
- They are adorable. With a few tweaks this palmier style recipe becomes perfect little savory hearts that are not only cute, but tasty too.
- These are absolutely delicious. Its cream cheese pastry and bacon, how could you go wrong! These are so delicious that they are addictive, you will find yourself eating one and then another and then another and just one more until they are all gone.
- You can make them ahead of time. Once your dough is frozen, you can simply slice and bake whenever you like. Surprise guests? Bacon heart bites. Failed valentines day cooking? Bacon heart bites. Emergency need for bacon! Make bacon heart bites.
Ingredients
Bacon – Obviously bacon heart bites will have bacon! Use a nice thick rasher bacon for the best results. If you are not a bacon fan you can definitely trade this out and use the same method to make pepperoni, cheese, mushroom or pesto heart bites.
Flour – Plain all purpose flour is used here to form your dough. This recipe will also work well with most 1:1 ratio gluten free flours for a gluten free option.
Butter – I always use salted butter as it is what I keep on hand. If you prefer unsalted, then you can add a pinch of salt to your dough.
Cream cheese – I am a big fan of cream cheese pastries (my spooky red velvet tart is a great example)! Use a full fat regular cream cheese. Do not use a low fat or spreadable style as it will make your dough a bit too sticky.
Tomato paste – This will be mixed with butter and brushed over your bacon to add a little more moisture to your dough as well as some overall flavor. If you want to spice these up, you could absolutely swap this out with your favorite hot sauce. You could also leave it out and brush the bacon with some garlic butter or pesto.
Shaping your hearts
- Fold both of the long edges of your pastry 3cm of the way towards the center, press firmly to keep the bacon in place.
- Fold the long edges towards the center again. Make sure to leave a strip through the center to allow you to form your heart shape.
- Finally fold the two folded parts of the dough together to create the upper curves of your hearts. Gently press the center folded edge to from an sharper angle, that will become the bottom point of your hearts.
- Wrap the prepared heart log in baking paper and place it in the freezer. Leave it to freeze until it is firm enough to slice thinly (approx 2 hours).
- Remove your heart log from the freezer. Cut the log into 1cm slices. You can use a ruler to make the cut points and then use a sharp knife to slice through the frozen pastry.
- Lay your sliced hearts onto your prepared baking sheets and they are ready to bake.
Making ahead
This is a great recipe to make ahead.
This dough is perfect for freezing, especially as the dough needs to be frozen before you slice and bake your bacon heart bites.
Simply follow the recipe up until the point where the dough goes into the freezer, Wrap the dough in an additional layer of cling film for freshness and leave it in the freezer until you are ready to bake. This should around about one month.
Slice and bake a little at a time or prep ahead for an event or special occasion. These are a great savory option for a valentines day picnic, a Christmas snack plate, school lunches and just general every day deliciousness.
Bacon Heart Bites
Ingredients
Method
- Place your flour and butter into a food processor. Pulse the mixture until the the butter until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
- Add in your cream cheese and pulse again until the mixture is well combined.
- Add in the water and pulse the mixture until it begins to form together in small clumps.
- Turn your dough out onto a clean bench top and use your hands to bring the dough into a smooth dough ball.
- Press the dough between 2 baking sheets and roll out thinly using a rolling pin.
- Trim and shape your dough to form a 24cm by 30cm rectangle that is about 5mm thick.
- Lay your bacon rashers over the surface of the dough. Make sure that there are no gaps or overlapping of the slices.
- Combine the melted butter and tomato paste in a small container. Brush the mixture all over the surface of the bacon.
- Fold both of the long edges of your pastry 3cm of the way towards the center, press firmly to keep the bacon in place.
- Fold the long edges towards the center again. Make sure to leave a strip through the center to allow you to form your heart shape.
- Finally fold the two folded parts of the dough together to create the upper curves of your hearts. Gently press the center folded edge to from an sharper angle, that will become the bottom point of your hearts.
- Wrap the prepared heart log in baking paper and place it in the freezer. Leave it to freeze until it is firm enough to slice thinly (approx 2 hours).
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees fan bake. Line 2 baking sheets with baking paper.
- Remove your heart log from the freezer. Cut the log into 1cm slices. You can use a ruler to make the cut points and then use a sharp knife to slice through the frozen pastry.
- Lay your sliced hearts onto your prepared baking sheets and bake for 16 minutes or until the dough is cooked through and golden.
Notes
Store your cooled crackers in a sealed snap lock bag or container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read through my bacon heart bites recipe. I hope you enjoy trying this out for yourself. Please feel free to add any questions or comments below. I am happy to help out wherever possible and I would love to hear how this recipe worked out for you.
